We will update this statement on a twice-yearly basis to share our progress. If you would like to discuss DEI at Futureheads please contact team@wearefutureheads.co.uk. (Updated Jan 2024)

<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>We aim to be brave. We won&rsquo;t get it right all the time, but we believe it&apos;s better to say and do something rather than nothing, and to learn from our mistakes.</strong></div>

 <p>                     <strong>                       But we’re now striving to be better and to drive positive                       change. We firmly believe that everyone is welcome at                       Futureheads, and we aim to demonstrate that in everything                       we do.                     </strong>                   </p>                   We’re committed to creating a culture that reflects the                   make-up of society, we believe diversity promotes innovation,                   growth and equality. We are committed to being intentionally                   inclusive by understanding who we have in our culture and how                   we can best add equity to each individual, and contribute                   towards their professional development. We are actively                   helping our clients do the same. We celebrate the difference                   and rich experience that diversity brings, and we commit to                   ensuring that everyone we interact with, both within and                   outside our business, is valued, respected, and treated                   equally, regardless of their background, identity or                   circumstances. We aim to understand every individual’s                   capabilities, and to give them what they need to succeed to                   their fullest potential.

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Futureheads in Numbers

We have partnered with a exciting business who are in the process of growing out their Data team, with an engineering department of over 350 currently!<br><br><br>They’re a cutting-edge insurance company that’s transforming the industry with a customer-first approach. Everything they do is built around simplicity, transparency, and innovation—whether it’s seamless digital claims, personalized coverage, or fair, data-driven pricing. They’re growing fast and looking for passionate people to join their mission of making insurance smarter and more accessible. If you’re looking for a dynamic, forward-thinking team, this is the place to be!<br><br><strong><br>The tech stack:</strong><br><ul><li>Python</li><li>Kafka/Spark/Apache Airflow</li><li>Databricks</li><li>Infrastructure as Code (IaC)</li><li>AWS</li></ul><br>Right now, they’re building an internal platform that will allow pricing teams to centralise various data points including tarrifs and claims. The ultimate goal is to create a data mesh allowing all departments to access and view the data.<br><br>This role will play a key part in driving adoption across engineering teams, optimising data processes, and ensuring a scalable, efficient infrastructure. You’ll collaborate closely with Data Platform Engineers, Analytics Engineers, and Software Engineers to enhance the platform and ensure seamless integration across the business.<br><br><strong><br>Key areas of interest:</strong><br><ul><li>Proficiency in Python and experience with other programming languages</li><li>Strong experience with distributed data processing frameworks, such as Apache Spark or equivalent.</li><li>Proficiency in SQL with a modern data warehouses (e.g. Redshift) and lakehouse (e.g. Databricks).</li><li>Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools like Argo Workflow or Apache Airflow</li></ul><strong><br>Nice to haves include: </strong><br><ul><li>Experience with cloud platforms (they are using AWS)</li><li>Expertise in DevOps practice, such as IaC and CI/CD</li><li>Streaming technologies (Kafka is they're go to)</li></ul><br>This is a really exciting time to be joining this growing organisation. Please apply now to be considered.<br><br>Must be based in the UK as sponsorship is not available.<br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Senior Data Engineer - Insurance

We are working with a rapidly growing LegalTech start up who are looking for a <strong>Senior AI Engineer</strong> <br>to join them on their journey.<br><br><br>Their platform combines expert human lawyers with cutting-edge AI technology to deliver affordable <br>and expert legal help. Backed by top investors, we’re rapidly growing, with major international <br>expansion on the horizon.<br><br><br> <strong>Mission:</strong> Leverage AI to democratise access to legal services for everyone!<br><br><br> <strong>The tech stack:</strong><br><ul><li>Python, LangChain, LlamaIndex, LangGraph</li><li>OpenAI, Gemini or similar</li><li>AWS, Google Cloud, GitHub Actions</li><li>PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, Redis</li><li>DBT, BigQuery</li></ul>As an AI Engineer, you’ll be tackling complex, abstract problems with the latest AI models and tools, <br>collaborating with a talented team to drive innovation across the full data and engineering stack. <br>You’ll play a key role in researching and experimenting with new approaches, models, and data <br>strategies to advance their AI-powered legal solutions. <br><br><br> You'll also work closely with the engineering team to ensure their R&D efforts are production-ready <br>and scalable. Your work will help evolve their AI products, ensuring they grow rapidly and safely <br>using the best development and testing practices. Additionally, you'll help shape the future of the <br>team through technical leadership and hiring.<br><br><br> <strong>What's on offer:</strong><br><ul><li>Salary: Circa £120k, depending on relevant experience</li><li>Fully remote from the UK</li><li>34 days annual leave</li><li>Equity</li><li>Social events and annual meet ups</li></ul><br> You must have UK RTW and we can not offer sponsorship on this occasion.<br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Senior AI Engineer

<p>The business landscape is changing fast.</p>
<p>As more businesses transition to remote working to keep their staff safe and slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus, hiring tactics are shifting to accommodate for self-isolation, with smart businesses increasingly turning to digital recruitment. While the circumstances are unfortunate, the outcome of these tactics is proving beneficial to both businesses and candidates.</p>

<p>Having spent decades creating a hyper-connected online environment for people to communicate irrespective of location, we now have no option but to take full advantage.&nbsp;<strong>Could this be the defining moment that sees organisations move to digital recruitment as the norm?</strong></p>
<p>As a means of promoting accessibility and speeding up time to hire, many of our clients have already explored remote interviews for the first or second stages. As a result, our team is well-versed with the concept of interviewing from home and the benefits it can bring.</p>
<p>To help get you started, we&rsquo;ve put together a step by step guide to adapting your process for the current climate.</p>
<h2>Shift your mindset</h2>
<p>Interviewing remotely may seem like the second-best option when face-to-face meetings aren&rsquo;t possible due to busy schedules or, in this case, a public health crisis. As fitting as this attitude may have been in a time before video calls, we now have a range of tools to make remote screening a simple and seamless process.</p>
<p>The moment you start taking advantage of these tools, the moment you start to reap the rewards. Without the need for a face-to-face meeting, you can allow for flexibility in your schedule to screen the best candidates quickly and not miss out on talent due to a diary clash &ndash; and that&rsquo;s not all.</p>
<p>As remote working becomes the norm, we expect candidate location to be far less of an influential factor in hiring decisions. Shifting your mindset in line with this standard is key to securing top talent in a new era of remote-first operations.</p>
<h2>Evaluate your current process</h2>
<p>Before you make the leap, it&rsquo;s wise to take stock and evaluate your current hiring strategy. Can each step be completed without face to face contact? Do certain stages in the current process 100% require a candidate to be present in person?</p>
<p>Upon evaluation, you may find that these stages can be adapted to accommodate &ndash; this might also be a chance to remove or simplify stages that have historically caused early dropout and find new ways to engage your candidates throughout the process.</p>
<h2>Ensure clarity for everyone</h2>
<p>Taking your hiring process online calls for formal comms that provide clarity for everyone involved. If you don&rsquo;t have a remote working policy in place, now is the time to create, formalise and share both internally and externally. The more information you can give your candidates ahead of time, the better &ndash; that way, they know what to expect and can prepare adequately for their interview.</p>
<p>We have always flown the flag for accessibility in the hiring process, and believe that clarity and flexibility are both critical in giving all candidates &ndash; no matter their age, race, background or cognitive style &ndash; the best chance in landing the job.</p>
<h2>Get the right set up in place</h2>
<p>Adapting your hiring strategy to account for the current circumstances and, in all likelihood, a new era, requires businesses to have the right technology in place. The ability to share screens and present can make a huge difference, so choosing software that allows for these is essential for keeping the process smooth and hassle-free for both parties.</p>
<p>With the right software and communication tools in place, you can ensure an engaging experience that keeps your candidates in the loop with the latest decisions.</p>
<h2>Integrate the new team member digitally</h2>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve decided to take someone on board, it&rsquo;s as important as ever to integrate them into the team. This can seem difficult in the absence of an office, but there are plenty of digital tools that can help. For example, make sure they join all team meetings as you check in with each other at the beginning and end of the day, as well as add them to any informal team channels on Slack or an equivalent.</p>
<p>Equally, it&rsquo;s worth engaging them on your company&rsquo;s social channels by announcing their joining on LinkedIn or twitter, and asking the wider team to follow their personal accounts. With a process like this in place, your new hire should soon feel like part of the team and wider culture of your business!</p>
<h2>Seek feedback on the process</h2>
<p>Even with preparation, there will naturally be a bedding-in period in which key stakeholders adjust to the new process. During this time, collecting feedback will be imperative to making the tweaks that enhance the interview process and improve efficiency.</p>
<p>As well as asking candidates for their thoughts, give line managers and recruiters a chance to provide honest feedback on the recruitment process from their perspective. They will undoubtedly have suggestions from initial pain points that arise in the early stages of deployment &ndash; the best way to iron this out is to encourage contribution in improving the process for everyone.</p>
<p>At Futureheads, we&rsquo;re firm believers that digital technology coupled with the right attitude can help make the hiring process more accessible for everyone. While the impact of the coronavirus has been unprecedented, businesses are now in a position to ensure candidates can still put themselves forward for exciting new roles.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Should you need further advice or assistance in planning for remote interviews, we&rsquo;ll be more than happy to help.</p>

Digital recruitment – how to adapt your hiring process during a public health scare

<p>Carlos is a Global Director of IT at Springer Nature, a leading academic publisher. He is passionate about leveraging technology as a core driver of business and customer value, and how to lead individuals through an increasingly complex and fast-changing environment.</p>

<h2>What&rsquo;s the story of your career so far?</h2>
<p>I finished my Masters in Computer Engineering in Portugal, having started working as a part-time basis for a friend&rsquo;s media startup building websites for clients during my studies. After finishing my degree I worked in the energy and telecom industry working as a software developer and as a QA, in a mixture of old school waterfall and agile environments.</p>
<p>After moving to London, I joined a Media brand to launch their two products in digital news and gambling, and joined Springer Nature soon after that. At Springer Nature, I&rsquo;ve moved through a variety of roles and job titles. From quality assurance, analyst and portfolio to finally working as a Director of IT for the past 3 years. The last 3 years have been super exciting, as I&rsquo;ve been part of a large programme of digital transformation in the business, supporting a transition in business model.</p>
<p>Lately, I&rsquo;ve started an Executive MBA programme at London Business School, that I&rsquo;m due to finish soon, to complement my tech background with a stronger business acumen and leadership experience.</p>
<h2>What do you love most about what you do?</h2>
<p>I love to be part of a business that has such a positive impact in the world, especially in these times of a global pandemic. We are an enabler of scientific discovery and in such a critical period for the globe, you can only be proud of the value you bring to your customers.</p>
<p>As well as the purpose, I love the people I work with and the level of collaboration, teamwork and openness to new ideas that we have. I believe we have a culture that fosters the collective instead of the individual.</p>
<p>Finally, being able to combine in my role business strategy with technology to generate business value is super exciting. Digital is the product and I&rsquo;m lucky to work in an organisation that puts the customer at the forefront of what we build.</p>
<h2>What&rsquo;s the most important lesson you learned in 2020 amidst all the Covid-19 disruption?</h2>
<p>If there&rsquo;s one thing that I&rsquo;ve learned, is that we tend to take a lot of things for granted and COVID has challenged the base of Maslow&rsquo;s pyramid. Through this pandemic, I&rsquo;ve seen friends and colleagues going through burnouts, losing or risking losing family members, having to completely change their lives, lose their jobs, etc. As a leader, the key to deal with these difficulties is empathy, understanding and providing the flexibility for individuals to adapt their plans and schedules to make sure they are well and safe. By adapting a paramedic mindset, where you have to provide assurance, psychological safety and support while empathising with the situation, you lead people to excel.</p>
<h2>As far as you can predict, what&rsquo;s on the cards this year for you and your business?</h2>
<p>Springer Nature like many other businesses was also impacted by the pandemic, having had to readjust expectations in 2020 and 2021. However, we believe in a stronger recovery in 2022 and onwards. The pandemic can also be an accelerator of the transition to Open Access publishing (scientific manuscripts freely available, rather than being behind a paywall), which we are investing significantly on, modernising our products and services to cater to the needs of the scientific community. More than ever, we need to make sure scientists spend less time in tedious publishing tasks, making their job easier, simpler and more convenient.</p>
<p>Regarding the workplace, I believe it will also be a challenging year where we start transitioning back and adapting to the &ldquo;new normal&rdquo; of a hybrid work life. I feel that we never got really to the point of maturity in remote working and yet, we are changing again to a new set up, which will be definitely challenging. Entropy!</p>
<h2>If you could go back and do it all over again, would you choose a different career path and why?</h2>
<p>I don&rsquo;t think I would have changed much. I love what I do and I&rsquo;m proud of my career and my achievements so far. I am and will always be a technologist, feeling excited with the digital transformation happening in the whole world. It&rsquo;s great to be able to be work in companies where you leverage technology to provide value to your customers. Also, I&rsquo;m still young so there&rsquo;s a whole lot to discover, to experiment and to do in the professional life, (e.g. starting a business, moving industries, changing roles, etc.).</p>

Carlos Esteves – Futureheads Five Stories

<p>Anthony is a thought leader in technical leadership and organisational processes. He is a regular organiser &amp; presenter at conferences and meetups, a tech blogger, and is active in the open source community &ndash; In particular the Umbraco CMS, where he is an Umbraco MVP &amp; Master. Anthony has experience in building high performing remote distributed production teams spanning multiple countries. He is an Agile/Scrum/Kanban enthusiast, a vocal proponent of Behaviour/Test Driven Development, and is always looking for ways to make development more efficient and enjoyable. Originally from Sydney, Australia, he is now based in London.</p>

<p>What&rsquo;s the story of your career so far? Any particular highlights?</p>
<p>I personally hate the word &lsquo;career&rsquo;. I&rsquo;ve never had a career, and I don&rsquo;t want one. I do what interests me, and luckily I have a skill set which means I can earn a good wage. This is something which I am very grateful for. That said, here is my story so far&hellip;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I am originally from Sydney, Australia. I was hired for my first &lsquo;real&rsquo; job way back in 2007 following a meeting with a friend at a local pub at 2am! This was where I was first exposed to the Umbraco community &ndash; a community with which I have been heavily involved ever since.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As a junior in my first company, I was basically working 60 hour weeks for much of the time. It was a trial by endurance, but by 2010 I had almost a similar type of experience as some senior developers. In fact, when I moved to London in 2010, people hired me as a senior developer. Whilst contracting, I had met the owners of The Cogworks at the Umbraco London meetup. They were a famous Umbraco development house turned digital consultancy. Little did I know that this encounter would dictate almost 7.5 years of my life. The Cogworks was one of those companies that basically lets you do whatever you want, as long as you&rsquo;re delivering the goods. It gave me a chance to blaze my own path, learn what I wanted, and be involved in organising conferences such as The Umbraco UK festival and The Umbraco Poland Festival. I even got the chance to open an office in Krakow, which is a city I really adore. It was truly a special place to work, and I have to admit that at the time I took it for granted.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By 2019 it was time for new challenges. I was originally planning to go contracting again, until I stumbled across the Technical Director role at Radley Yeldar (a 200-person full service agency). This was an opportunity to transform an entire department, and bring the rest of the company along for the ride. I came in like a wrecking ball, tearing down old processes, questioning beliefs, creating new policies, restructuring their infrastructure and billing practices, introducing Scrum and Kanban, forming teams, and generally having a ball. I built the development team from 5 people up to 17 within a matter of weeks. In March 2020, the &ldquo;bug&rdquo; hit, and it was time to leave, albeit prematurely. As of now, I am working as Head of Development for ISS LiquidMetrix &ndash; a fintech company in London.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What&rsquo;s the most important lesson you&rsquo;ve learned over the course of your career?</p>
<p>Soft skills matter more than technical prowess. We have all heard of that &ldquo;difficult&rdquo; person who we put up with because that person is brilliant. Here is a news flash: most of us are not that brilliant person, so learn to get along with people. Be helpful, be friendly, give praise, and don&rsquo;t take things personally.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What skills are going to be most useful for candidates in your industry over the coming months?</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m not sure about the coming months. These are very unpredictable times. However, I will tell you things I look for in CVs. If you can show experience in Test Driven Development/Behaviour Driven Development then you go to the top of my list. Add to this SOLID Principles, Hexagonal Architecture, Devops, a pragmatic sensible approach, a load of side projects, and really good people skills. If you tick these boxes, then in my opinion, you are the type of person who will succeed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What advice would you give to others in a similar position to you at the moment?</p>
<p>At the time of writing this, we&rsquo;ve all been working remotely since March. For everyone in leadership positions, please check in with your staff as often as possible. People working from home can feel isolated, and it is hard to notice mental health issues when people are remote. Try to be the person that they can trust and believe in. Show your team that you care about their wellbeing with your actions. Be open minded, be flexible. Most importantly, talk to your staff with your webcam turned on so they can see your face.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What&rsquo;s going to be the biggest challenge in your industry in 2021?</p>
<p>A few things come to mind. Scaling up to meet demand in big data storage and processing, keeping up with technology, staying efficient when there are so many startups trying to get a piece of the pie, and even staff retention (developers get bored easily). The elephant in the room though is Brexit. What cross border regulations will exist, and what time frame to do have to implement them? It is a big unknown!</p>

Futureheads Five Stories – Anthony Dang

<p>In a landscape that seems to change the moment we get comfortable, staying relevant is rarely a case of sitting back and switching on the autopilot. It&rsquo;s no secret that the current crisis has left swathes of the population questioning whether they have been moving or hustling in the right direction.</p>

<p>In our opinion, there has been no better time than now to take stock and start charting a course for professional growth &ndash; but where to begin without a map?</p>
<p>To help our network navigate this challenge, we were delighted to host renowned author, executive coach and workshop facilitator&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25); background-color: transparent;" href="https://jeffgothelf.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jeff Gothelf</a>&nbsp;for a talk on how to become<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">&nbsp;&lsquo;</span><a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Employable-Stop-Looking-Work-ebook/dp/B086S5SJXM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forever Employable</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">&rsquo;&nbsp;</span>for the launch of his book of the same name.</p>
<h2>Taking stock and making change</h2>
<p>The year is 2008: Jeff Gothelf is the Director of UX at NYC tech company TheLadders. Having incrementally clawed his way up to middle management and become a proud husband and father to two children along the way, anyone would agree that Jeff has &ndash; to quote a phrase &ndash; &ldquo;<em>made it in life</em>.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Yet, on the morning of his 35th birthday, he woke up in a cold sweat, overcome by a flash of panic that his skillset would soon not be enough to compete with the hoards of younger UX designers that were charging their way up the career ladder at an alarming pace.</p>
<p>Competing in the jobs market had suddenly become a terrifying prospect.</p>
<p>No one wants to go the way of the dodo, and no one wants to be replaced by a younger model. In acknowledging this, Jeff had a starting point for becoming invincible.</p>
<p>He decided he was no longer going to look for jobs, but that jobs were going to look for him.</p>
<h2>Laying the foundations for employability</h2>
<p>According to Jeff Gothelf, creating a situation where you are in demand requires you to treat your career as though it were a product you were developing. The journey begins with 4 key questions:</p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">Does anyone know who I am?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">Why would they look for me?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">How would they find me?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">What kind of work do I want?</span>Only by assessing where you are and defining where you want to go can you start making changes to realise your goals. Applying principles of product management to career development, Jeff explored the 5 qualities he believes are the building blocks to becoming &ndash; in his words &ndash; &lsquo;Forever Employable&rsquo;. These are:</p>
<h3>1. Entrepreneurialism</h3>
<p>You might not think of yourself as an entrepreneur, but if you&rsquo;ve ever poured time and effort into any passion project, then you have entrepreneurialism. Rather than shying away from it, lean in.</p>
<h3>2. Self-confidence&nbsp;</h3>
<p>Self-confidence is typically the most challenging issue to overcome, but it can be built by pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and starting small, trying out mediums such as video and podcasting.</p>
<h3>3. Continuous learning</h3>
<p>Results from a poll conducted during the live talk suggested this quality is the one most participants felt confident they were doing: reading articles, listening to podcasts and watching talks are all extremely important in upping your game.</p>
<h3>4. Improvement</h3>
<p>There&rsquo;s no use amassing information if you aren&rsquo;t going to use it. As you pick up new learnings, you will find ways to increase your value, whether it&rsquo;s as a UX designer or an entirely different field.</p>
<h3>5. Reinvention</h3>
<p>To stay relevant, we must learn to rise to the perpetual challenge of taking what got us here and reinventing it to get to the next step. That could mean a new delivery channel or applying the principles of your specialist area to a new field. For Jeff, it meant bringing product thinking to non-product teams such as legal, finance and HR.</p>
<h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">Removing the &lsquo;use-by&rsquo; date on your career</span></h2>
<p>During the insightful talk, Jeff walked the audience through the five steps he found effective in establishing himself as a leader in his field (and thus warding off the competition.)</p>
<h3>Plant the flag</h3>
<p>Make a decision about what domain expertise you want to own. For Jeff, the perfect pitch to plant a flag was Lean UX: it was an area that he not only felt well-versed in and passionate about but one that aligned with current trends and would resonate with his target audience.</p>
<p>To decide where to plant your flag, ask yourself who you want to influence and how big this community could be. The next step? Test your hypothesis; start answering key questions and solving common challenges for your target audience. If they bite, it could be the right place for that flag of yours.</p>
<h3>Tell your story</h3>
<p>What unique story do you have? It may not seem extraordinary on the surface, and you may feel the message you are expressing has been told before. Yet, your unique story is yours alone: it doesn&rsquo;t have to involve celebrities or ground-breaking discoveries to be a compelling story. The experiences you and you alone have gained in your professional (and personal) life can all help in shaping your message, solving a problem and creating an authentic connection with your audience.</p>
<h3>Follow a new path</h3>
<p>As Jeff began to see success through public speaking, teaching classes and book deals, he began to worry that his design skills would suffer. In fact, this was a new path that had emerged; it was an opportunity to tell his story and help others in a new way. He advised attendees of the talk to be ready to take advantage of unexpected paths if they prove to have potential.</p>
<h3>Teach</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s no secret that teaching makes you better at what you do. Jeff explained how participation in workshops, webinars, podcasts and conferences had all helped to enhance the value he offered his audience and encouraged attendees to do the same &ndash; be it through a MeetUp group or an internal session within your workplace.</p>
<h3>Give it all away</h3>
<p>Simply put, the more you give away, the more opportunities come back to you. Becoming forever employable is not a quick win &ndash; it&rsquo;s an ongoing effort to engage your community and to establish yourself as the go-to person for your subject of expertise. The nature of trends means they are ever-changing: if you want to stay relevant, stay active.</p>
<p>Overall, the talk was a success and we&rsquo;re delighted to have received such positive feedback from everyone who joined. Thank you to Jeff for sharing his expertise, we hope to have him back soon to enlighten you with more advice on how to stay employable in a continuously changing workforce.</p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25);">&lsquo;</span><a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Employable-Stop-Looking-Work-ebook/dp/B086S5SJXM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forever Employable&rsquo;</a>&nbsp;is available to purchase today.</p>

Forever employable: Becoming invincible in a continuously changing workforce

<p>This is the introduction of my upcoming series where I deep dive into the gendered issues of the UK&rsquo;s tech sector. I&rsquo;ll cover statistics that will shock you, how far we&rsquo;ve come, and how far we&rsquo;ve yet to go.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>I want to cover this extensively because I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s good enough to just address the issues and say &ldquo;look, the pay gap shrunk slightly this year&rdquo;. I want to name it, shame it, and provide you with ways that we can all be proactive and make a change today. Whether you&rsquo;re a hiring manager or a tech professional, I want you to walk away from this series with valuable insight into how you, personally, can make a difference.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ll cover the pay gap, gender disparity, core statistics, tips and tricks on overcoming bias and increasing diversity, CV reviews and career advice for women in or entering tech, guidelines for inclusive copy, initiatives and creative benefits that might close gender gaps in your company, and resources and communities available online doing great work that you might not be aware of.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The first part to come in the series will address why this conversation needs to happen. I&rsquo;ll lay out the most shocking statistics that lay at the heart of these issues; including gender imbalance across different organization sizes and leadership levels, importance of diversity policy to applicants, female tech leadership stats, and so much more.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Women in Tech. It’s a big subject and there’s a lot to talk about.

<p>The gender gap across the tech industry is still prevalent. Futureheads&rsquo; co-founder, Be Kaler Pilgrim, was delighted to join forces with IT consulting firm, Waterstons, to discuss the importance of women in tech and what we can do to attract more women into technology careers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The panel discussion invited female employees, Nadine Musgrave, Eleni Charalambous and Rhianne Short &ndash; alongside Waterstons CEO, Michael Stirrup &ndash; to share their experiences of being a woman in the UK tech sector. Be facilitated the fascinating discussion on what they believe can be done to encourage more women to consider a career in tech.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Like Futureheads, Waterstons is a female-founded business with women occupying roles across the organisation, including the senior leadership team and board, yet the team knows more needs to be done to create a truly inclusive workplace and hiring process.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Be kicked off the panel sharing her experience of what businesses are doing wrong when it comes to identifying underrepresentation &ndash; and the top barriers to creating a truly inclusive hiring practice.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There was a whole host of interesting soundbites shared during the panel and we&rsquo;ve gathered our top 6 key takeaways from the event.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Create an equitable recruitment process</p>
<p>With ED&amp;I creeping up the agenda for most businesses, more companies are pledging to change their policies and procedures to attract a more diverse candidate pool. But what steps can businesses take to create real action? Be shared some of her key tips:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Employer brand &ndash; how you speak about yourselves externally and internally as a business is key. The more you talk about your values and culture as one that champions diversity, the more likely you are to attract talent that aligns to that. Inclusive language &ndash; without thinking, we write job descriptions which immediately appeal to one gender more than another, but there are online tools that help avoid this. Diverse interview panel &ndash; if your interview panel isn&rsquo;t diverse, how can you expect your potential employees to be? Build your candidate pool &ndash; keep the chain of conversation open with those that are not suitable right now, but could be in the future. Have a slick strategy and process &ndash; only with a clear goal of creating an inclusive process, can you create real change.</p>
<p>Acknowledge you need to do more</p>
<p>Like Waterstons, many tech businesses today are progressive and forward-looking, but awareness of the need to do more is essential to making consistent change. Michael Stirrup, CEO of Waterstons, spoke of the businesses&rsquo; diverse leadership team, with a previous female CEO and female board members, and how he has personally worked and learned under female managers throughout his career. However, Michael acknowledged how this had encouraged an attitude of &lsquo;what&rsquo;s the problem?&rsquo;, with the business only reflecting in the last few years that diversity and inclusion is an ongoing project &ndash; and that there&rsquo;s always more to be done to encourage women in tech.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;As a tech business, we have a responsibility to nurture and progress the women in our team, no differently from the men &ndash; and ensure they do not face gender-based barriers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Michael Stirrup, CEO of Waterstons</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Create visibility at all levels of the business</p>
<p>Nadine Musgrave, Associate Director spoke of first joining Waterstons 20 years ago and how it felt special to be part of a tech business founded and led by women. She highlighted the importance of these women as acting as a beacon for females to aspire too.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It shows women what they can achieve in the tech industry and that they can be part of a sector that&rsquo;s rapidly growing. Having this visibility is key to breaking barriers and stereotypes of the tech industry as typically &lsquo;male&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Nadine Musgrave, Associate Director</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Champion working mums</p>
<p>Equally, the business had been very supportive of Nadine as a mum of twins, enabling her to progress her career whilst working part time. Working mums are often an overlooked and undervalued sector, but if nurtured, acknowledged and supported can be hugely beneficial for any business. The pandemic has proven that this flexibility works for all employees to the benefit of the business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a big reason why I&rsquo;ve been here for 20 years. The values and culture of Waterstons has meant I never wanted to drift anywhere else. Yes, I&rsquo;ve had other challenges, but a business that would support me as a mum and allow me to continue my career has been key.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Nadine Musgrave, Associate Director</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Create psychological safety to discuss ED&amp;I</p>
<p>Technology Consultant, Eleni Charalambous, was next to be interviewed by Be &ndash; speaking of her positive experience as a female employee at Waterstons. Asked what she&rsquo;d like to see improved, she identiﬁed the gendered departments across the business, with client services being heavily female but that regardless of area of work, women naturally take on smaller admin tasks in meetings, such as writing notes. Likewise, she noted that it was a similar story for housework tasks in the office too, with female staff generally arranging drinks or cleaning away glasses in meetings.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Be acknowledged how important it was to create a space to discuss these observations, highlighting that the biggest obstacle to progression is these conversations getting buried, and female staff not saying anything.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;At Futureheads, we commit to creating the psychological safety within our culture that enables every member of staff to discuss ED&amp;I in any capacity through a range of touchpoints, and to provide safe, confidential opportunities for staff to raise concerns.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Be Kaler Pilgrim, Futureheads&rsquo; co-founder</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Teach young women the variety of careers that exist within the tech sector</p>
<p>Be asked Rhianne Short, Information Security Consultant, for her thoughts on how businesses highlight the importance of women in tech and encourage more women into the tech sector.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rhianne highlighted how important it was to showcase the variety of roles in the tech industry &ndash; many of which would appeal to young women. She highlighted how females are less likely to consider roles in tech due to a misunderstanding about the skills needed, or available routes in.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;If I had known my role was in the tech industry, I may not have applied due to it being considered a&rsquo; male industry, however, since being at Waterstons, I&rsquo;ve realised that there are creative and people-focused roles. It&rsquo;s important we make young women aware of the careers available in the tech industry whilst at school and university&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Rhianne Short, Information Security Consultant</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Conclusion: What makes a workplace a good place for women to work?</p>
<p>Thanking the Waterstons panellists for their honesty and willingness to discuss the issue of diversity and inclusion so openly, Be concluded the panel with her top 10 factors for making workplaces a great place for women to work:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Take into account outside demands Foster a community Investment Progression in leadership roles Representation Pay Measure and track employee satisfaction Two way communication &ndash; open feedback A mission/purpose Flexible benefits for leave</p>
<p>If you would like to discuss ED&amp;I with Futureheads to see how it could be improved at your workplace please contact nathan@wearefutureheads.co.uk</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

How do we attract more women into tech? – a panel with Be Kaler Pilgrim and Waterstons

The complexities of AI and Machine learning, as well as the focus on data integrity, means hiring professionals with compliance, system integration and advanced analytics skills can be challenging. Our team is on hand to help with your Data recruitment needs.

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    <p>The complexities of AI and Machine learning, as well as the focus on data integrity, means hiring professionals with compliance, system integration and advanced analytics skills can be challenging. Our team is on hand to help with your Data recruitment needs.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals in:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Data Engineering</li>
      <li>Data Science</li>
      <li>​Data Analytics</li>
      <li>Business Intelligence</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Data

With positions across agencies, brands, start-ups and tech companies, we work with Creatives delivering new brands, campaigns and integrated experiences. From hiring freelance Creative Teams to your first in-house Copywriter, we’ve got it covered. 

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  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>With positions across agencies, brands, start-ups and tech companies, we work with Creatives delivering new brands, campaigns and integrated experiences. From hiring freelance Creative Teams to your first in-house Copywriter, we’ve got it covered.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network include professionals in:</h5> 
    <ul>
      <li>Motion Graphics & Video Editing</li>
      <li>Branding</li>
      <li>Copywriting</li>
      <li>Art Direction</li>
      <li>Illustration</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Creative

Part of our founding offering; since 2009 we have been part of the growth and evolution of the Design market in the UK – With a comprehensive network across all majors skill-sets we have consistently helped businesses hire world-class Design talent. 

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    <p>Part of our founding offering; since 2009 we have been part of the growth and evolution of the Design market in the UK – With a comprehensive network across all majors skill-sets we have consistently helped businesses hire world-class Design talent.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5> Our network includes Designers with skills in:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Digital Product (UX/UI) Design</li>
      <li>User Interface (UI) Design</li>
      <li>​Visual Design</li>
      <li>Digital Design</li>
      <li>Marketing Design</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Design

We know that the world of Digital Marketing moves at a quick pace. Digital Devices, Digital Platforms, Digital Media, Digital Data, And Digital Technology never stops. This is why our teams are on hand to support these changing landscapes and are always ahead of the curve.

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    <p>We know that the world of Digital Marketing moves at a quick pace. Digital Devices, Digital Platforms, Digital Media, Digital Data, And Digital Technology never stops. This is why our teams are on hand to support these changing landscapes and are always ahead of the curve.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals in</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)</li>
      <li>Pay-per-Click</li>
      <li>Social Media Marketing</li>
      <li>Content Marketing</li>
      <li>Email Marketing</li>
      <li>Mobile Marketing</li>
      <li>Marketing Analytics</li>
      <li>Affiliate Marketing</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Digital Marketing

Our niche is technical experts who specialise in IT and digital projects, across multiple platforms and technology stacks. Come and talk to us about all things engineering, from entry to CTO-Level.

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  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>Our niche is technical experts who specialise in IT and digital projects, across multiple platforms and technology stacks. Come and talk to us about all things engineering, from entry to CTO-Level.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals across:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Front-end</li>
      <li>​Server-side​</li>
      <li>​Full-stack​</li>
      <li>Native Mobile​​</li>
      <li>Technical Architecture​​</li>
      <li>Solution Architecture​​</li>
      <li>Testing</li>
      <li>QA​​</li>
      <li>DevOps</li>
      <li>SRE</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Engineering

From recruiting your first Product Owner to hiring your next experienced Product Managers, our recruiters have developed a specialist network in the design and tech space. They have trusted experts in sourcing and delivering both permanent and contract professionals in the field.

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    <p>From recruiting your first Product Owner to hiring your next experienced Product Managers, our recruiters have developed a specialist network in the design and tech space. They are trusted experts in sourcing and delivering both permanent and contract professionals in the field.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Chief Product Officers (CPO)</li>
      <li>VP's of Product Management​</li>
      <li>Directors of Product Management</li>
      <li>Product Managers​​</li>
      <li>Product Owners</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Product

With a deep understanding of what is required from Project Managers and Programme Managers in the Digital and Tech space, we can help you find the talent to help you deliver better budget controls, communication, and reporting, to help you find ways to introduce new processes tools and technology that can support more efficient work delivery.

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  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>With a deep understanding of what is required from Project Managers and Programme Managers in the Digital and Tech space, we can help you find the talent to help you deliver better budget controls, communication, and reporting, to help you find ways to introduce new processes tools and technology that can support more efficient work delivery. </p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Digital Project Managers</li>
      <li>Programme Managers</li>
      <li>Engineering Project Managers</li>
      <li>Software/IT Project Managers</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Project & Programme Management

From helping shape the London-UX market from the early days, to running and sponsoring some of the most well-known UX networking events – our reputation holds in our ability to match top-tier UX practitioners into opportunities. 

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    <p>From helping shape the London-UX market from the early days, to running and sponsoring some of the most well-known UX networking events – our reputation holds in our ability to match top-tier UX practitioners into opportunities. </p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes practitioners with skills across:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>User Research</li>
      <li>Interaction Design​</li>
      <li>​UX Design</li>
      <li>Information Architecture</li>
      <li>​Service Design​</li>
      <li>Content Design</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

UX & Service Design

Adam Boutouili

<p>Adam brings a deep specialism in Data and AI to the Futureheads team, having developed his recruitment and sector expertise since 2018. He's passionate about building strong relationships and always 'doing the right thing' - so our B Corp commitments are a great natural fit.</p>
<p>When he's not connecting Data and AI specialists, Adam has his hands full caring for two children and a Jug (that's a Pug/Jack Russell cross in case you didn't know), but he also finds time to play foootball every week and to continue learning how to code in Python.&nbsp;</p>

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